Pharmacy hypertension service: Over 100k blood pressure checks in 6 months
Community pharmacies completed 115,419 blood pressure checks on patients within six months of the launch of the hypertension case-finding service, data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) has revealed.
C+D reported last month (May 17) that pharmacies in England had administered 75,051 blood pressure checks since the service’s launch in October 2021, based on figures shared in a blog by England’s chief pharmaceutical officer David Webb and NHS national clinical director for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention Shahed Ahmad.
However, new data released by NHS BSA and analysed by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) confirms that community pharmacy teams actually far surpassed that figure.
Contractors offering the service provided 115,419 blood pressure checks between October 2021 and March 2022, PSNC wrote in an update on the service yesterday (June 14).
The data also revealed that 4,902 patients have had ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) through the service during the same period.
Rising number of contractors providing service
Under the service, pharmacy teams can identify patients with undiagnosed hypertension by taking their blood pressure and, where necessary, they can offer ABPM to them.
The number of contractors providing the hypertension case-finding service appears to have risen since Mr Webb and Dr Ahmad published their blog, with PSNC reporting that more than 7,200 pharmacies are currently offering it, compared with the 6,800 Dr Webb and Mr Ahmad referred to.
More pharmacies plan to join service
PSNC director of NHS services Alastair Buxton said it was “great to see that many pharmacy teams are now fully engaging with this important service”.
“I know many more plan to do so over the next few months,” he added.
As “pharmacy teams [are] well placed to play a greater part in tackling cardiovascular disease”, Mr Buxton noted, “the service has the potential to make a big difference to the health of individuals and to have an impact on reducing health inequalities within our local communities”.
Over 100K pharmacy blood pressure checks provided so far https://t.co/1bCDrrhHop It is great to see so many pharmacy teams providing this important service!
— Alastair Buxton (@ABuxtonPSNC) June 14, 2022
